104 surah humazah

7/27/2019 104 Surah Humazah

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Srah Humazah

Central Theme

This srah is the counterpart of Srah Asr, the previous srah. Even a

cursory look at both the srahs reveals a clear similarity in their themes.

In the previous srah, the character of persons who will be salvaged in

the Hereafter is depicted. They are those who exhort one other to the

right path and remain steadfast on this attitude. In this srah, people of

the opposite character are referred to: They are miserly by nature and

greedily accumulate wealth. Instead of urging one another to fulfil therights of Allah and their own fellow beings, if they see someone doing

so, they make his life miserable by hurling taunts and jeers at him. They

try their utmost to discourage and demoralize him so much that he may

surrender to their reproaches and adopt their evil ways. This attitude

conceals their own miserliness and saves them from being conscience-

stricken when others call them to the right path.

The Qurn, at many instances has made references to this miserly

character of people who greedily hoard money. To quote Srah Tawbah:

)!:!(Those who censure the believers who give freely and who scoff at

the poor that give according to their means, Allah will scoff at them,

and theirs shall be a torment afflictive.(9:79)

While explaining the above verse, this writer has written:1

The words and are the same words. is a person whonot only fulfils his obligations but also enjoys doing what is optional

and over and above them with great enthusiasm and fervour.

means to censure, to slander, to speak ill of.

In the above quoted verses, it is stated that the Hypocrites do not

1. Amn Ahsan Islh, Tadabbur-i-Qurn, vol. 3, 202-203.


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Srah Humazah 2

spend in the cause of Allah and also cannot bear to see others doing

so. Whenever they see someone spending in such a cause, they start

reproaching and ridiculing him. When they see the affluent among

the Muslims spending generously and sincerely, they regard it a

pretentious display put up to bluff others and to give others a false

impression of piety. If they see the poor, who have barely savedsomething to spend in this cause, they scorn and sneer at them to

discourage them.

It is the psychology of misers to try to induce others to miserliness in

order to hide their own, just as a person with an ugly nose wishes

others to be like him so that no one remains to call him ugly. The

hypocrites also would satisfy their emotions of rivalry with Islam by

doing the same. They did not want to spend a penny for its cause nor

did they want others to do so. They could not bear people spendinggenerously on the poor. So, when they would see an ordinary

labourer happily giving whatever dates he had saved, sacrificing the

needs of his wife and children and buying the wealth of the two

worlds in their place, they writhed and twisted with venom and

satisfied their anger by scorning and taunting them.

This character of the misers actually portrays their helplessness.

Neither do they have the courage and spirit to outdo others in fulfilling

the rights of their fellow beings nor can they stop others who call uponthem to do so. The only course left for them to defend themselves is to

gibe and mock at those who are actually exposing their weaknesses.

Because they were trying to conceal their inner self, the srah has

brought to light every aspect of both their inner and outer selves.

It should be clear that though in this srah the character of the stingy

is actually depicted, yet the character of those having other moral

weaknesses is no different. They also try to defend themselves by

making fun of those having high moral character. The people of Lot

(sws) too had adopted a similar attitude. When they observed that it wasbecoming difficult for them to counter the reformatory movement

launched by the Prophet Lot (sws) and his companions, they, instead of

mending their ways, started scoffing and leering at the Prophet Lot (sws)

and his companions by saying: (these people pretend tobe noble, (27:56)). They even started exhorting their nation to banish

these nobles from the country, lest they disgrace the whole nation.


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societies but is also in vogue in the modern uncultured societies.

Today, humourous columns and cartoons published in newspapers and

magazines do the job which was done by the mimics, imitators and

jesters of yester years. In Srah Qalam, a comprehensive analysis of the

leaders of Quraysh as well as their cohorts is made. It shows that they

also wanted to thwart the attempts of the Muslims in spreading theIslamic Message by adopting tactics similar to those employed by the

professional leaders of today to get the better of their opponents. The

Prophet (sws), therefore, was advised to remain aware of this foul play in

the following words by the Qurn:

):"-(Pay no heed to any ignominious oath-monger, who makes evil

gestures and who sows seeds of dissension, forbidder of good,

transgressor and usurper of rights, cruel and moreover a flatterer --

only because he has been blessed with wealth and children. (68:10-14)

)(3

The verse vividly portrays the life of stingy people. On the one hand,

they do all what they can to silence those who call upon them to fulfil the

rights of Allah and their own fellow beings, and on the other are busyamassing riches and greedily hoarding them. They remain deeply

engrossed in computing and calculating their wealth. Speculating about

the prospects of success in business is their only food for thought. Issues

like the profit that can be obtained from various business undertakings,

the money they can gain from their investments, the measures needed to

compensate the loss in a particular economic enterprise and the grand

total of their money next year possess their minds. If someone mentions

before them that a person has spent his money on orphans and poor, they

make fun of him by saying that he is only showing off his wealth andassert: Look at us, we have spent thousands and no one has the slightest

knowledge of it.

)(4This verse highlights the inner character of the hypocrites. They reckon

3.Who greedily amassed wealth and kept counting it.4. It is as if his wealth has rendered him immortal.


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that their wealth will also buy for them eternal life. Their complete

involvement with wealth shows that they seek all pleasures of life in

wealth. If they knew that both their wealth and life were ephemeral, they

would have expended them in a way which would be profitable for them

in the Hereafter. In fact, they would have tried to outdo one another in

this dash.In Srah Shuar, this mentality is depicted in the following words:

):-!(Will you build monuments of no use on every high place and build

grand palaces as if you have to live here forever? (26:128-29)

It is a persons attitude towards life and not what he says which gives

an indication of his inner self. The life of a person who considers thisworld as his final destination is totally different from that of a person for

whom the next world is the ultimate destination, towards which this life

leads. It is not possible that a person who believes in the Hereafter

greedily hoard his wealth. Such a person, as the Prophet Jesus (sws) said,

keeps his account with Allah:

Keep your wealth with Allah, because your heart is wherever your

wealth is. (Matt, 6:21-22)

)(5

The word

(By no means) is meant to negate the false notion of a

miser stated in the previous verse: thinking that his wealth has rendered

him immortal. The Qurn says that such a person and whatever he has

gathered will be hurled into the raging fire of Hell which shall crush

them to pieces.

The word is from the root HTM which means to crush to

pieces. Like and , it is also an intensive form.and are intensive forms, as is

)(6The question in this verse is meant to express the dreadfulness of Hell; a

fire kindled by the Almighty should not be considered something ordinary.

(that which crushes to pieces) seems a very apt word to depict the

5. By no means! He shall be flung into that which crushes.6.And what do you imagine that which crushes to pieces is?


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total annihilation of wealth amassed in the form of bricks of gold and

silver, jewellery, and valuable utensils. This is precisely how the rich of

that period used to accumulate their wealth. All such people will see this

fate of their wealth, which they reckoned would render them immortal.

)( )(7This verse explains the word stated in the previous one. The

characteristic of this fire is that it will first of all seek those hearts that

had remained so possessed by the love of wealth that the remembrance

of Allah and the Final Day could find no space in them. We all know of

certain devices which have been invented to track down specific targets.

As soon as they sense their prey, they automatically follow and destroy

it. The fire of Allah mentioned in this verse, it seems, will behave

similarly and will grip all those hearts which were absorbed with the loveof wealth and had remained indifferent to the needs of the poor.

)(8The fire shall completely engulf them so that no part of its heat is

wasted. The phrase means he closed the door. The fire willclose over them as in a brick kiln, destroying them with all its force.

)!(9

This verse depicts the helplessness of these criminals. Even within the

fire they will be fastened to high columns with heavy chains. Here only

columns are mentioned; Srah H~qqah mentions the chaining of such

criminals as well:

)!:"-(

Seize him, and chain him with an iron collar and cast him into Hell,

and then fasten him with a chain seventy cubits long. Indeed, he did

not believe in Allah, most High nor did he urge others to feed the

poor. (69:30-34)

____________

7.A fire kindled by Allah, which will rise up to their hearts.

8.They shall be enshrouded in it.9.Fastened to columns very high.

104 surah humazah

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